Starry Knight vs Trixie
Introduction This 4-part story was originally posted on the forums as part of a Tug of War event between Trixie and Starry, but also between Fulkherth and Shadow Knight. The first three posts were made in April of 2011, with the final post being made after the winner of the Tug of War was declared. Part 1 "Today," Trixie said to the city, "someone needs to die." Morning in the city is always grey. Trixie likes this kind of morning. The mist seems to wash the dirt out of the city’s urban pores and the stress from her mind. As she stands on her penthouse balcony overlooking the sprawl below, she sips her coffee and resolves that today she will figure out where her organization has been compromised. Today the rat will be found. Today she will make her people fear her again. The product launch was two weeks ago. A brand new nano-steroid imbedded in a line of topical cosmetics called “Eden’s Breathe”. All of Trixie’s market testing said that a designer steroid aimed at female consumers to recreate youth would be a phenomenal success. She showed Dr. Fulkherth the potential profit margin and he was sold. He disappeared into his lab and a short time later he handed her a cerulean vial of the elixir. Trixie dubbed it Eden’s Breath and her people put it into production. And that is where the train came off the tracks. Some of the women in her organization started using it. Eden’s Breath worked amazingly well. In 24 hours the women looked decidedly younger. In a week of daily use a consumer could shed as much as ten years from the wear and tear on the body. The best part was, not only did they look younger, they felt stronger. It was, indeed, a license to print money and Trixie fairly giggled at the potential….Then the side effects started. The 911 call was from the south side of town. First responders thought it was a crank. They were mistaken. As the uniforms rolled up on the brown stone they were still chatting about last night’s ball game when the abomination landed on their roof. The squad car’s doors flew open with the force of the impact and the officers were thrown from harm’s way. Sitting on top of the car was something very hard to describe. It looked like one of Fulkherth’s radiation experiments gone wrong. It smelled of death and giggled maniacally. Then the wave of heat hit. Without provocation the monster went up like a thermite roman candle melting the squad car into a puddle of liquid metal and plastic. The good news was nothing was left; absolutely no evidence. Nothing for Trixie to worry about… right? Starry stared at the damage. It looked for all the world like a meteor or SAM missile had landed right in the middle of the street. Witnesses spelled out a different story of a monster immolating right on top of the doomed squad car. Starry knew that while the probability for monsters in SHC was decent, exploding monsters were rare. The whole mess smelled of Fulkherth. And that meant Trixie. The package was delivered to the Knight Tech compound with a message that simply said “Starry Eyes Only." Inside was a file on Eden’s Breathe explaining how it released an amino acid that sets off three genetic triggers to reverse aging. But the human body can only flip one trigger at a time. Starry read on in horror. The file explained the user would look very good for a short period, then the genetic breakers would burn out, leaving all triggers on, like a helium balloon with the nozzle stuck on full. One minute you feel amazing, the next... pop. Starry was beside herself. How could anyone produce this poison? Her face flushed, she slammed her fist into the wall, leaving a glow that distorted the plaster like a melting candle. She grabbed the file and burst into her father’s Knight Tech office. “They cannot be allowed to do this!” she yelled, slapping the files down on her father’s desk. She drew in a breath to start her rant. Shadow Knight held up his hand. “You are absolutely right. If this is the fight you wish to have then you have my blessing.” Starry’s jaw dropped. Normally advice would be given. Normally fatherly instincts would kick in and she would be relegated to sidekick status. She wasn’t going to question this change in her father. It was her fight and she was ready for it. I’m coming for you Trixie and it’s not going to be pretty! Part 2 The distribution warehouse was quiet. Trixie had sent everyone home except her most trusted cadre of elite guards until she could figure this out. Who was the rat? Why would they send that package? Didn’t they know how much money was at stake? Trixie was generous with all in her employ and this was a stab in her back. Someone was gonna pay and pay dearly. Suddenly, the compound's perimeter alarm sounded. Trixie looked into the overhead monitor. “Who has the cojones to come slinking in here?” she mused. “Maybe the rat is back to cover his tracks?” It was wishful thinking, the rat was a traitor but obviously wasn't stupid. Still, she welcomed the distraction of a trespasser and idly drummed her fingers on her favorite bat, waiting for the monitor's camera to focus. Trixie dropped the tape wrapped slugger in amazement, the sound of wood on concrete rattling around the room, when the screen showed Starry Knight walking around the corner. “Damn!” Trixie shouted in surprise. She could almost respect the determination it took for that little sidekick to walk her entitled butt into the enemy’s lair…. Almost, but this was too good an opportunity to pass up. No daddy around to protect her. No savior for poor little Starry. A giggle escaped the green-haired vixen's lips. She'd been right. Someone was going to pay and that someone was Starry-freakin'-Knight! Alerting her elite guards for stealth deployment, she rummaged through her weapons locker with barely suppressed glee. Trixie had been trained in many forms of urban warfare (she gave a silent thanks to her father) and knew that traveling light with a big punch was in order. “Oh, yeah!” her eyes lit up when she found the carbon fiber AK-47 with depleted U-rounds in a high-capacity drum magazine. Smiling, Trixie did a little pirouette and took a step toward the door. Catching herself, an idea springing into her head, she leaned back and grabbed a vial of Eden’s Breath, tucking it into the front of her corset. The irony was not lost on her. Trixie unlocked the warehouse doors, might as well make it easy for the Knight brat, and stepped back into the center of the combat space. It was as good a place as any. She locked, loaded, and knelt into firing position. “Today, it hits the fan.” She said under her breath as a grim smile slowly crossed her lips. “Gentlemen,” she continued aloud, addressing her unseen guards ranged around the warehouse space, “she's mine, mine, mine. Don't mess up my girl time unless she's about to twist off my head.” Starry entered and at first didn't see the kneeling Trixie. The green-haired villain gave a little wave. Recognition and rage twisted across the younger Knight's face. Years of frustration boiled to the surface and Starry launched herself with all the force she could muster. Trixie could see the power flow from hero. The air crackled with energy as Starry flew at Trixie with all the power of a freight train. One hundred U-rounds punched into Starry's chest before she was halfway to her nemesis. The force of the barrage didn't stop her, but sent the girl into a pile of boxes near the wall. Dropping the spent rifle,Trixie presses the momentary advantage, diving into the pile with a whoop and every intention of ending Starry once and for all. She didn’t count on the heel of Starry’s boot. The kick, more a flailing mistake than a tactic, caught Trixie full in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. With an explosive gasp, Trixie skidded back along the floor. “When,” she thought, clutching her middle, “did she learn to hit like a tank?” Before Trixie could shake off the first blow, Starry's fist caught her square on the chin. A burst of light went off behind Trixie's eyes and she slumped to the floor. From the shadows of their cover, the guards tighten their grips on their weapons. Their leader holds up a hand to stop them. His lieutenant gave him a puzzled look. Knowing Trixie from the early days, the leader made a twisting gesture. He wouldn't give the order to fire until the hero had her hands on the boss's head. Those were the directives and he knew to follow them. Starry, oblivious to her hidden foes, knew this was her moment. Still boiling with rage she grabbed Trixie by the hair, cocking back her glowing fist for the final blow. Every fiber in her being screamed for Trixie’s blood, but the killing blow was stopped cold by Trixie’s laugh. “What would daddy think?” The words hit their mark. Trixie sees the trepidation crossing Starry’s face. With reflexes honed in many street fights, Trixie smoothly plucked the vial of Eden’s Breathe from her corset and jammed it into Starry’s mouth. The Sound of breaking glass echoed off the metal walls. The gush of blood from Starry’s mouth sprayed into the air and Starry slumped slowly to her knees. Giggling again, Trixie dusted herself off and kicked Starry to the ground. She gave a thumbs up to her guards and slapped her hands together. “Damn, it’s turning into a GREAT day!” Part 3 If Fulkherth believed in divine providence he would have been thanking the gods for the sight in front of him. The dais glowed, the stasis chamber hummed and Starry Knight hung, suspended from her arms, directly in the center of the unearthly machine. The Nodes of Ranvier encased each arm and pulsed as they drained the wormhole plasma from her body. Fulkherth rubbed his hands together and smugly wallowed in his good fortune, watching the containment units fill with plasma. “Yes, this will work perfectly!” It was Trixie who had stumbled blindly, in her own arrogance, to afford this possibility. It was Trixie who had hauled Starry back to the compound. If not for the closed circuit monitoring system he would not have seen the epileptic like seizures rack Starry’s body as Eden’s Breath pushed her to death’s door. Fulkherth vaulted from his lab with a spinal tool filled with antidote. Rushing into the holding room he rolled Starry over, pushed her head over the edge of the gurney to expose the back of her neck and forced the 6 inch needle between the C2 and C3 vertebrae and up into her cranium. Spinal fluid back-washed into the hypodermic chamber and he unceremoniously shot the antidote directly into Starry’s brain. Her body fell limp and her breathing calmed. Starry was alive, barely, and that is all Fulkherth needs. *** Shadow Knight pushed himself away from his desk, leaned back and put his hands behind his head. To the casual observer he seemed relaxed and untroubled but a storm was raging inside this hero. It would have been a herculean task for a normal father, with a normal daughter. Starry was no normal daughter; she had the complexity of super-powers thrown into the mix. That was all Shadow Knight needed to tie his guts into a particularly cranky Gordian knot. He had let Starry go to confront Trixie on her own but not without their contingency; the connection they shared through the wormhole. They had been connected since she was small, instant communication anytime they wanted it. As Starry became a young woman she just seemed to want it less. She had learned to dampen it, disregard it and successfully turn it off. He just hadn’t expected her to turn off their wormhole connection at this point, but she did. For now, he needed to give her a chance to succeed on her own. He would just bide his time and keep their channel open. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes and whispered a prayer under his breath, “Be ok Star, come home safely.” *** Fulkherth was feeling no pain. All he had to do now was wait, wait for the last ounce of power to drain from Starry’s body then he could fire up his invention. He called them his Knight Mare Gloves; the avatar of Starry’s powers. Powered by Starry’s plasma, the gloves are the means he will use to make Shadow Knight pay. He adjusted the cathodes at his temples and juiced the amperage on his brain box. The warmth flooded him and a sigh escaped. With this release, his mind was free to fly and tackle a myriad of puzzles without his body weighing him down. The box buzzed, his reality shifted and he was no longer in his body. He deftly swam through an infinity rainbow and wrapped his mind around the Starry Knight situation. He had her right where he wanted her. She was suspended in his stasis chamber and the Nodes of Ranvier were slowly draining all the anti-matter from her polarized aura. By the time he was done, she would have so little power left that the next time she tried to access the phase bridge she would get sucked right over the event horizon. In his reclined chair, Fulkherth’s body uncontrollably spasmed as he giggled in his trance and bubbles of spittle ran down his cheek. *** It was like her body was made of lead. Starry’s consciousness ebbed in and out. One moment she was aware of the shackles holding her arms above her head and the next she was ten, playing in the field of wildflowers behind her home. She knew she was late for dinner and kept expecting her daddy to call her from the back porch. Every now and then, between primroses, snapdragons and foxglove, she would look up apprehensively and wonder why her daddy’s voice never came. Then she would be pulled to the pain, slumped forward, chin on her chest, pulsing machines spinning around her. Every thought took effort, every move was torture. She felt the life leaving her and with every ounce of will she resisted. For a split second she could feel the drain on her powers falter, then her mind would drift and she would slump back into oblivion. *** “STARRY!!!” Shadow Knight sprang from his chair. His mind was wandering when he heard her cry out. “Help me Daddy!” Shadow Knight heard it as plain as day. His powers ignited and he slammed through the picture window that used to be the west wall of his office. The contrail of released plasma vented behind him as he shot skyward. He knew she was close; the problem was SHC was such a big place with countless little corners. Where was she? His mind shouted… “Talk to me Starry!” “Tell me where you are!” *** Gold, purple and blue; they were such pretty flowers for such a pretty girl. Starry knew her daddy would love them. She danced in a circle at the thought of Daddy’s smile. “Talk to me Starry!” “Tell me where you are!” There it was! Her daddy’s voice! “I’m here Daddy! I’m coming and I have a surprise for you!” One last accumulation of will, one final surge of resistance and Starry came to full consciousness. Her powers were depleted and still draining, but with one last breath she sent what she had left to her shackled hands. The Nodes turned red, then yellow, then exploded in an arc of plasma and Starry slumped to the floor. That was all she had left but before she gave into the blackness she noticed two very important things. One, the machines were silent. Two, she could communicate with her father. *** Fulkherth fell from his chair, flat on the floor with a resounding WHUUMPF. Alarms were sounding, lights were flashing and Trixie was standing in the doorway with a befuddled look. If he had a Cherry Fizz for every time he saw that look on her stupid face, he could drink himself into Hades. “Status Update!” Fulkherth queried. “Parameter Alarms, Boss!” Trixie yelled, “And a power failure in the east wing laboratory!” Zounds! The game was afoot. Fulkherth dashed from his quarters to the east wing. He barely paid any attention to Starry slumped on the floor. All he cared about was the charge in his plasma containment units. Fulkherth’s single eyebrow rose. This, he did not expect. The Nodes were melted but the containment units were at full charge. By all rights Starry should be dead; tapped to the core and looking like some vampire’s last supper. But there she lay, breathing and relatively alive. What a pleasant surprise. Starry must have had a much purer connection to the wormhole. That was something he would capitalize on later, but for now he had an agenda. Fulkherth ran from the room brushing past Trixie. “Reattach her Trixie, she is still useful!” Fulkherth threw open the door to the vault. Sitting in the center, floating in its own modulated chamber, was the avatar he would use to channel all Starry’s contained power. They were the pinnacle of 2 years of research: Fulkherth’s KnightMare Gloves. Hooked directly into the full plasma containment units, they were his one best chance to remove Shadow Knight’s life from his body. Finally, the power of the wormhole would be at his command. Finally, the world would respect the genius of Dr. Reginald Fulkherth. He clicked the modulator off and slowly inserted his hands. The power coursed through him, his teeth clenched and the laughter started. This was his day, this was his world and this was his chance. Today, there would be a reckoning and SHC will never be the same Part 4 - Shadowknight Wins Shadowknight wins "Shadow Knight Wins Shadow Knight circled the compound. From his aerial view he could see most of Fulkherth’s facility. There were warehouses, bunkers, generators, filtration systems and a 20-story corporate office building with a helipad. It was all deserted, like Fulkherth new a fight was brewing. Shadow Knight was certain Starry was down there somewhere. If history taught him anything then Fulkherth had her in his underground lab. That was where her essence felt strongest. His rage was barely contained when he landed in the center of the compound. “FULKHERTH!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. Powered by his rage and the wormhole plasma, his voice augmented and broadcast to every corner of the compound shattering windows all around him. Twenty floors of glass rained down around him. “Bring Starry Knight to me or, I swear by all that is holy, I will take this place apart brick by brick until I find her!” Shadow Knight shouted. A yellow ball of plasma encircled him as the falling glass became a canopy of melting lava. With a shrug of his shoulders, the canopy exploded sending showers of liquid glass across the compound and everywhere it fell, flames leapt toward the sky. An earthly vision of hell erupted around him as Shadow Knight started his methodical deconstruction of Fulkherth’s compound. They would bring Starry to him, one way or the other, even if he had to destroy this place. *** Fulkherth watched the spectacle unfold before him. He was observing covertly from the top of the office building, under the helipad. He rubbed the fully charged gauntlets together and they released a satisfying crackle of plasma. He would wait for his time to strike. Like a well-trained fighter, Fulkherth would hold until his opponent had tired himself out. Shadow Knight was running on emotion and that was a decidedly good thing. “Let him try to dig to find Starry. That lab is under a hundred feet of tungsten carbide re-enforced concrete. I can wait,” Fulkherth thought to himself. He would gladly sacrifice this whole compound for his best shot at ending Shadow Knight. “For now, let the hero be a hero… let’s see if he can save himself when he’s done saving others.” *** “Dad, I’m here!” Starry moaned. The concrete floor was cold against her face. Starry’s eyes slowly opened and she lifted her head to get a better view of her surroundings. As her eyes slowly focused, she could make out Trixie across the room, machine panels open, tools in hand and paying no attention to Starry. With her hands and feet bound Starry knew her options were limited. She was going to have to rely on her father being out there, somewhere, listening for her. She closed her eyes and focused all of her attention. “Dad, I’m here and I’m ok but I don’t know for how much longer. Try to find me, please Dad.” That was when the voice went off inside her head, “I hear you Star, I hear you clearly. I’m here and I am coming for you. Hang in there, sweetheart!” *** Shadow Knight was sure of it now. Starry was directly beneath him in what he assumed was one of Fulkherth’s labs. He clasped his fingers, raised his hands above head, channeled all of his power into his hands and with all his might slammed his fists into the ground. BOOM! The shock wave was the most destructive thing. It spread out horizontally from the point of impact carrying with it anything that wasn’t tied down. Like a tsunami, it washed over everything. Row after row of warehouses collapsed, generators exploded and trees uprooted. Shadow Knight noted the peripheral destruction indifferently. He looked apprehensively at the point of impact to see how much headway he had made tunneling into the underground laboratory bunker that held Starry. His heart sank. A six inch impact crater was all that he had produced. He would have to find a quicker way to get to Starry… a much quicker way. *** BOOM!!! Trixie had the hood up on the stasis machine replacing the last fried circuit. She was halfway into the machine when Shadow Knight’s power slam dislodged a chunk of heavy roof onto the hood and it came slamming down onto Trixie. It pounded the back of her head and sent it surging forward into the side of the heavy reinforcement beam. Starry felt the impact too; it shook her from her stupor. She raised her head to check on the position of Trixie and was surprised to see her limp body hanging half out of the stasis machine. Now was her chance. “Star, can you hear me?” A comforting smile spread across her face. It was good to hear her father’s voice. “Yeah Dad, I’m here.” “Are you sure you’re ok, cause this may take a while? My strength isn’t making much of a dent in this concrete. Fulkherth must have augmented it with some sort of impact resistant additive.” Shadow Knight’s voice trembled with emotion. He hated failing and that was exactly what could happen. “I’m fine, Dad. Your impact knocked out Trixie so I’m all alone down here. I’m gonna burn through my restraints and try to find a way out but the air is getting stale and the power keeps flickering on and off.” Starry’s voice shook. What no one was saying was that it was obvious that Shadow Knight’s impact, while not strong enough to break the concrete, had damaged life support for the underground lab. “That sounds like a great idea Star. Focus down to a pinpoint of flame and your restraints should melt like butter” That’s it! Every element has its Achilles heel. If he couldn’t punch his way in, he could burn his way in! Shadow Knight focused all his energy back upon himself, raising his internal body temperature. Slowly the light emanating from him changed from red to yellow to white hot. The earth around his feet started to crack, then bubble. Slowly, like a white hot nuclear core, Shadow Knight started burning a hole into the concrete that had withstood his earlier attempts to breach. Shadow Knight started to sink…. “I did it Star, I’m coming for you!” *** Fulkherth had moved to the edge of his twenty story office building to get a better look. He held on for dear life as Shadow Knight’s shock wave slammed through and around him, but his building still stood as he knew it would. He watched as Shadow Knight’s troglodyte brain slowly grasped that he couldn’t simply pound his way inside the lair. Then he thought he might pass out, holding his breath, waiting for Shadow Knight to discern the obvious. “Burn Idiot!” “You need to burn your way in!” Fulkherth whispered to himself. Fulkherth almost danced when he saw Shadow Knight go nova. He knew this was the only option available to him to get Shadow Knight’s power drained, if it could be drained. Fulkherth had a suspicion it could. He readied the Knight Mare Gauntlets and watched Shadow Knight sink below the surface. He switched them on and the power surged through his body, sparks danced at his fingertips and everything tingled. “Anytime now… anytime.” *** With her power slowly returning Starry was able to burn through the restraints that were left holding her. She sat up and rubbed her wrists and ankles. Her body ached and her head throbbed but her cognitive skills were back on line. She looked over at Trixie’s inert body. The room was getting hotter. She knew Shadow Knight would be breaking through the ceiling soon and it would get much more uncomfortable before that happened. She knew Trixie would never survive it. She stood, slowly, mentally testing the functionality of all her extremities. She haltingly stumbled to Trixie. With great effort she lifted the panel to expose Trixie’s upper half. She audibly gasped as she saw the amount of blood caked on and around Trixie’s head. Starry propped up the panel and gently lowered Trixie’s body to the ground. Trixie’s breathing was strong. The wound was obviously not as bad as it looked. She had lost a lot of blood. Starry knew she had to get Trixie out of this room because she would bake in here if Starry left her. “Dad, slow down. Trixie’s hurt and we’ll kill her if we don’t move her. It’s getting way to hot in here.” *** Shadow Knight heard is daughter’s voice and his heart filled with pride. “That’s my little girl!” He thought to himself. “That’s what makes a hero!” He consciously turned down the white hot energy pulsing through him and it flickered. “Ok Star, I’ve given you more time but not much. Do what you have to do.” *** Fulkherth saw it! It wasn’t much, but he saw it! That was the sign he was waiting for! He was watching the white glow of the descending Shadow Knight when he saw the faint flicker. That must mean Shadow Knights power was starting to ebb. He stepped to the edge of the building, looking straight down the hole at a pulsing, flickering Shadow Knight. He fully opened the channel from the plasma batteries that Starry had so generously filled for him. This was his best chance for victory. He primed the trigger on the Knight Mare Gloves, threw his arms forward and unleashed the power of the wormhole directly at Shadow Knight. “SHOOMMP” (What sound does a wormhole make?) The power hit Shadow Knight like a ton of bricks, surprising him and throwing him to the bottom of the hole. It submerged him in a molten puddle of magma. The air escaped his lungs. “Umph!” The force of the attack pinned him under the magma. He couldn’t move or breathe. All he could do was endure the force of the attack. Much like Atlas supported the world on his shoulders, Shadow Knight struggled under the weight of the wormhole. He instinctively knew he was under attack and that Fulkherth was behind it. He looked up and saw the madman. He looked straight into the eyes of chaos and a shiver gripped his soul. He had never been hit this hard and he knew Fulkherth meant to kill him. He fought back, raising himself from the white hot muck. He saw the gloves and had no idea where the power was coming from. What were these things? What had Fulkherth created now? “I got a problem up here Star. Dad may be a little late.” *** Starry was dragging Trixie’s body from the lab when she saw the plasma containers kick on. A split second later she heard her father’s cry. “Umph!” She laid Trixie on the ground as she investigated the containers. The meter said it was full and the amperage modulator was on and funneling power somewhere. “So this is what Fulkherth was up to,” She thought to herself. This was why she had felt drained. He was putting her power in these batteries. “Dad, I think I know what Fulkherth is doing. He’s figured out a way to use my power against you. Hang in there Dad; I’m going to try to turn them off.” *** Plasma batteries? Gloves of Power? That’s it! Shadow Knight had a plan! “No Starry, don’t turn them off, crank them full on! Let’s burn this candle at both ends!” *** Oh-oh, Fulkherth thought, this isn’t right. Maybe it was some sort of miscalculation in his hardware design. The Knight Mare Gauntlets were not supposed to get this hot! He was emptying everything he had onto the Boy Scout’s head but he had not accounted for this. Then the beeping started. He had integrated an alarm into the gauntlets for just this contingency but there was no way he was overloading them. He tried to control the output and shut them down but they were not responding. They continued to empty more and more power down the hole and they continued to get hotter and hotter. The good news was, he was sure Shadow Knight was roasting; the bad news was he had no idea….. wait, the containment units must be on full, that was the only explanation, but who? Trixie would never….. “STARRY KNIGHT!!” The words violently escaped his lips as the beeping reached a crescendo. He knew he had mere seconds to take the gloves off, but how? Power was still pouring from them. What good was a world without Shadow Knight if he wasn’t alive to see it? “Damn you, Shadow Knight and damn your worthless kid.” *** Shadow Knight felt the power hitting him surge. He had managed to create a dispersal field that was holding up ok, but it was still an effort. He was using Fulkherth’s energy to finish the tunnel to Starry. The gauntlets were burning bright enough now that his view of Fulkherth was obscured. All he had to do was hold out a little longer and he was sure the gauntlets would fail…. BA-WHOOOOOM! With a spectacular flash the two top floors of the office building were vaporized. Pebbles and debris rained down across the compound. Shadow Knight looked up, searching for any sign of Fulkherth but to no avail. Shadow Knight was sure no one could have escaped that explosion. “Starry, breathe easy girl, its over. I’ll be there in a second.” “Starry?... Starry! STARRY!!!!!” *** Trixie’s eyes opened. What had happened? One moment she was replacing the last burnt Y-flux capacitor and the next…well, she had no idea. Her head throbbed and blood covered her face. As the room slowly stopped spinning and her eyes came into focus, she recognized Starry standing at the Plasma Containers. What was she doing? She was cranking them on full! Oh, this was gonna get ugly! While Starry was distracted, Trixie reached over to the tray that had surrounded Starry’s gurney and she palmed a syringe of powerful sedative. She then lay back down, watching Starry’s every move. The alarms on the containers started sounding and they too started to heat up. Starry stepped back from the units looking satisfied. She stepped over to Trixie in preparation to evacuate the facility. As she bent over to lift Trixie onto the gurney is when Trixie struck. With one fluid movement, Trixie buried the hypodermic needle of sedative directly into Starry’s carotid artery. Starry grabbed her neck and the lights went out in her eyes as she slumped to the floor. “Nighty-night Daddy’s girl, nighty-night,” Trixie said to herself. Then she smiled. *** It took a little effort for Trixie to lift Starry’s unconscious body onto the gurney, but it was worth it once she could wheel her trophy around. She knew there was an old escape route below that hooked up with a cavern system and an underground river. Down she went, wheeling an unconscious Starry ahead of her. Half way down she heard the rumble of the plasma containers exploding. No matter, once she climbed on the boat and loaded her prize the river would take her several miles from the compound to the cave opening. No one would be looking for them there. Maybe she could trade Starry for Fulkherth, because she was sure Shadow Knight had her boss in custody after that massive explosion. She approached the boat and pulled back the tarp. What was underneath caught her by complete and utter surprise. She let out an audible gasp as she gazed upon the crumpled form of Dr. Fulkherth. Most of his clothing was charred black. His right hand had very large blisters and his head lolled to the side. “How did you…?” Fulkherth stopped her mid-sentence with wave of his good hand. “I assessed it was a good day to pick a fight. I was wrong.” “But what happened to your hand?” Trixie queried. “At the last second I turned each gauntlet in upon itself and created a plasma loop. It was the only thing I could do to buy more time. The explosion should have killed me, but the ornithopter drones did their job. Mostly,” Fulkherth said tiredly then he continued. “I’m curious to know why you’re here. I can only assume you intend to take this antiquated vessel down this river. Are you a raging idiot? You're planning a slow escape from probably the fastest man alive? I'm bathed in wormhole radiation and the probability he is tracking its residual energy signature is significant.” The crooked scientist levered himself upright. "No. A boat ride simply won't do." With that announcement Fulkherth pulled out a small device. A touch pad registered his fingerprint and, with a small hum, a portal opened. But to where? Trixie, wondered a moment, then shrugged, laughed, and dragged Starry through with her. With one last look over his shoulder and a pause before stepping through, Fulkherth contemplated the destruction of his compound. A rare grin, a humorless acknowledgement of a challenge for his agile mind, crossed his thin lips. "How can I turn this loss to my advantage?" He thought, and stepped through the glowing rift in the fabric of space. Without a sound, the portal closed behind him. Category:Storyline